Throughout the past 80 plus years, Floyd has had many friends. They may have been dedicated teammates, patients, physician leaders, board members, fund raisers, government officials, volunteers, even the occasional therapy dog.
Larry Clements is one such friend.
Clements is one of those people you can’t help but like. He’s kind. He always asks about your family. He serves his church. After retiring from his regular job, he delivered prescription medicine to customers who couldn’t get to the pharmacy themselves.
He had his first heart issue in 2020. He asked to come to Floyd, and he’s been an ardent Floyd supporter ever since.
That same year, when Floyd launched its Northwest Georgia Needs More Heart campaign, Clements was among the first to write a letter of support.
Following his heart scare, he had a cardioverter-defibrillator implanted at Atrium Health Floyd Medical Center’s cath lab. The device continually checks for irregular heartbeats and delivers an electric shock to the heart when it senses something isn’t quite right. Clements was so impressed with his care that he wrote a thank-you note to Floyd President Kurt Stuenkel.
In 2023, when Atrium Health Floyd asked for testimonials to promote our Congestive Heart Failure clinic, Clements didn’t hesitate to lend his enthusiastic support.
“They’ve helped me greatly,” he told the camera. “When I first went, I was having trouble breathing and having trouble walking, getting short of breath. They’ve got me to this point now where I can get out and do whatever I want to, almost. If it hadn’t been for those people, I would never, never have been here today.”
He ended his testimonial by saying that if you have a heart issue, he’d recommend coming to Floyd.
“If you’re having heart issues in your life and your cardiologist recommends that you go, I highly recommend Floyd. You won’t be disappointed, and you are going to meet some of the most wonderful people you will ever meet in the world.”
When an examination of his family medical history revealed a genetic connection to Larry’s cardiology issues, he encouraged his family members to be tested for the TTN gene, which can make a person more likely to develop cardiomyopathy or other heart conditions. His oldest son tested positive for the gene and recently scheduled an appointment with Harbin Clinic electrophysiologist Dr. David Hirsh.
Clements accompanied his son to the appointment and remembers passing a kind gentleman in the hallway. The man stopped the two, asked them how they were doing, shook both their hands and continued down the hall. Clements welcomed that friendly greeting as he and his son headed to an examination room, and he was somewhat surprised with the friendly gentleman later entered the exam room and introduced himself.
“I’m Dr. Hirsh,” he told them.
That encounter quickly moved Dr. Hirsh’s identity in Clements’ mind from “the heart doctor” to “MY doctor.”
By the end of the visit, Clements knew quite a bit about Dr. Hirsh’s family, and he can recount the story of how it was Darlington School that brought the physician to Rome. But that’s not unusual for Clements. He considers emergency physician Dr. Kevin Hardwell, his family’s cardiologist Dr. Charles Baggett, former heart failure clinic manager Emily Costolnick and nurse Kelsey Correll, a registered nurse in progressive cardiology all his friends.
The staff at the heart failure clinic, he said, “make you feel like you are just so welcome when you come in there. And if I have a heart issue, I just call over there and tell them.”
Correll was with him, he recalls, when his heart stopped during a hospital stay. She grabbed Clements and eased him to the floor so he wouldn’t be injured and quickly called a code blue.
During a later stay, when Clements had COVID-19, Correll came to see him. He asked her how long he had been unconscious when his heart stopped. Her reply endeared her to Clements. “You were gone about 10 minutes before you came back to me.”
“She is just a special young lady in my heart,” Clements said. “I’ve written Kurt a letter about how great the hospital is.”
His words were deliberate. These teammates – Dr. Hardwell, Dr. Baggett, Costolnick, Correll and now Dr. Hirsh have taken care of Clements’ heart, and he truly holds them very dearly in his own.
